A move back to London in 1981 opened up new possibilities for Natasha. She quickly discovered local subjects to paint and her work was accepted at the 1983 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
“Whenever I could I went out into the countryside or to the banks of the Thames to paint and was amazed how I responded to the challenge of intensive and inevitably time-limited studies.”
In 1984 Natasha took the momentous decision to open her own gallery. It allowed her to paint and sell her own work, as well as the ability to buy in paintings. The art market was strong in the mid-1980’s. The gallery specialised in Modern British paintings of the early 20th century, putting on the first exhibition in the UK of St. Ives painters in 1988. In the 1990's still life subjects, an old passion, painted in the gallery became her main output. The gallery also required Natasha to learn the art and science of restoration.
“At first I worried that the restoration work I was doing as part of the gallery business would interfere with my own painting, but as I explored further I realized that this rather clinical but intimate approach to the techniques and styles of earlier artists was teaching me more and more about art; in fact, it became another source of inspiration.”
By the millennium, Natasha's own work rarely remained unsold; she could not keep up with demand, and was often putting the last touches to a painting the night before an exhibition. Her youngest son, Jonathan, had also become an artist.
“London suited me, it was great, but increasingly I needed to breathe a different air and longed to have a place in the country or even abroad where my painting could develop.”
In 2003 Natasha and Graham gave up the gallery and moved to South-West France. There, she was never short of natural subjects to paint. Mountains, rivers, wild daffodils and mushrooms were readily available. Figure painting also returned to her repertoire.
“I think my soul is in my painting.”
A much respected teacher, Natasha gave painting lessons to local British residents and visitors who stayed at the house. In 2015 they moved nearer to the Mediterranean. One of Natasha's main objectives was to paint the sea and the coast, which she is now doing with a free, fluid and imaginative new approach, the continuation of a nomadic life in both living and art.